Conventional voltage regulators typically can control activation of one or more phases to produce an output voltage. Operating a different number of phases depending on line and/or load conditions can increase an efficiency of a respective power supply.
For example, if a load consumes relatively low current, it may be beneficial to operate as few as a single phase of a power supply to supply the appropriate current to the load. Deactivating one or more phases when they are not needed can increase efficiency because of the minimal overhead power that is associated with operating only a single phase. When off, each of the deactivated phases typically does not consume overhead power.
For heavier loads that consume more power, it is usually beneficial to operate multiple phases because a single phase may not be able to produce enough current to power the load. When operating with multiple active phases, each of the multiple phases produces some portion of current that is consumed by the load.
A controller is typically configured to control the phases in the power supply based on control settings. Certain conventional analog power supplies use an external network of capacitors and resistors to form a so-called compensation network. A compensation network serves as control settings to configure a controller. It is there to ensure an optimal combination of stability and responsiveness (loop bandwidth).
To change control settings of a controller, different compensation networks can be switched into or out of a respective network depending on a number of operating phases. For example, a first network can provide first compensation when a single phase is activated. A second network can provide a second compensation for the power supply when a group of two or more phases are activated.